Yeovil Town boss Billy Rowley admitted his side’s 2-2 draw at Merthyr Town will not teach them much about the National League Premier Division season which is in front of them.
The Glovers came back from going 2-0 behind to a double from former player Sam Pearson inside the first hour in South Wales with a superb strike from winger Mason Obeng and a penalty from striker Stephen Walker earning them a draw.
The game was played on a dry 3G pitch and Rowley admitted that neither the surface nor the style adopted by their opponents is likely to match many of the sides they will face when they kick-off their league campaign.
Talking to the club’s social media after the match, the manager said: “There was some boys who have never played on a 3G pitch before and we took our time to adapt, there are tricks of the trade which you can learn when you play on these pitches. You can spin balls around the corner and it grips, but it is quite difficult to get adjust to. But I did feel we lacked a bit of personality in the first half, we needed to get to the ball a bit better. I overheard some of the boys talking about that at half-time and one thing which contributed was some of our turnovers which is not something you want to be doing as much of. It’s our second friendly and some of the boys played in the first half, it is their second 45 minutes in the last three or four months, so not something I will look too deeply in to but it is something we can learn from.
“Second half we were decent. We had a bit more balance in the team with the positions we can play, we have completely mixed the teams up in both halves and I felt the second half we had a bit more balance. Full credit to Merthyr, they have had some good success here in the last few years and it was a difficult test for us. It was a unique game and not something we will face too often this season, but it was a good work-out.”
Rowley confirmed the withdrawal of midfielder Luke McCormick after 37 minutes was a pre-planned move as the player continues his comeback from surgery on a groin injury which kept him out at the end of last season. He was replaced by trialist Jonathon Page late in the first half.
He also revealed that Bristol Rovers’ midfielder Kian Young, who featured from the start as Trialist D and then came back on in the second half to win the penalty kick, was on “a youth experience loan” at Huish Park. The 17-year-old featured in the 4-1 win at Melksham Town in the opening pre-season friendly on Saturday.
The manager said: “Macca has been out for a while following his groin operation. He is still fine but he has not done anything for five months, so playing on this surface was going to take too much out of him and we wanted to manage his minutes a little bit. It affected some of the roles and the balance of the team. Young Kian (Hill) helped us out, he is on a youth experience loan from (Bristol) Rovers and I thought he did well, but he also played out of position. We just needed to find a bit more balance in the second half and we did that.”
Having found themselves 2-0 down after an hour courtesy of two Pearson strikes, both set up by former Glovers’ midfielder Jacob Maddox, Yeovil began to find their feet and pulled a goal back through Obeng. Rowley believes the winger, who he managed at Walton & Hersham before his arrival in Somerset, will be a fans’ favourite.
He said: “He is a bit of a Brazilian really. He has that flair and he is an exciting player to watch, he had a lot of skill, he can use both feet and I thought his goal was excellent. I was right behind that goal, it started about three or four yards outside the post and he whipped it back in, great technique and that is something I have seen him do many times.”
There was also praise for Walker who scored his second goal in as many friendly appearances. Rowley added: “Ste is another I really enjoy watching play. He still looks like he needs another few weeks to get fully match fit and he is fully aware of that, but he took his penalty well.”
Yeovil’s pre-season campaign sees them face Cardiff City Under-21s in their first friendly fixture at Huish Park on Saturday with a 1pm kick-off. Rowley said he will learn the lessons of Tuesday night’s work-out against Merthyr, but reiterated he was not expecting to learn too much from the game.
He said: “I look forward to watching this game back, we put a drone up in the air to film it and the view looks incredible. This game is stylistically not what we are going to face much, a lot of National League teams are more direct and target players in the team. Merthyr are coached really well and switched the ball a lot, it will be nice to watch it back but it is probably not going to be as relevant as we need it to be.“